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难句解析：
①Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country's excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal, "spatial" thinking about things technological.
▲句首是介词词组among the many shaping factors作状语，谓语动词would single out后面用分号隔开的各个部分都是名词性的词组，这些词组都是single out的宾语。a labor force that welcomed the new technology中that引导定语从句，修饰前面的labor force。最后的形容词technological是后置定语，修饰前面的things。
△single out后面列举的各种因素都属于shaping factors，但是是作者认为比较重要的因素，其中要注意在最后一个因素前面加的修饰词组above all用来强调American genius for nonverbal, "spatial" thinking about things technological其实是要比其它因素更重要的，在阅读中一定要注意这一点。
②Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage.
▲这句话是比较容易理解的简单句。句子主干结构是observers related A to B。
△关键是理解relate... to的用法：把……和……联系起来。
③A further stimulus to invention came from the "premium" system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it.
▲这是一个主从复合句，句子的主干结构是... stimulus came from...，其中逗号后的which引导了一个非限定性定语从句，修饰前面的"premium" system。句末的it指代前面的patent system。定语从句中，and连接了两个并列的谓语动词：preceded和ran。
△关键要明白，定语从句中which指代前面的"premium" system，是谓语动词preceded和ran的动作发出者。parallel：平行的，这里ran parallel with意思是两种制度都在运作。
④Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.
▲句子的主干结构是Americans flocked to these fairs...，后面的动词不定式to admire and thus to renew都是表明flocked的目的的，作状语。
△句子的结构比较简单，关键是理解几个动词的层次关系：... flocked to admire... and renew...。thus是副词，“因而”的意思。另外，renew their faith应该理解为“进一步加深其信仰”。
⑤As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out, "A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process.... The designer and the inventor... are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist."
▲句子的主体部分是直接引语部分。直接引语中有两个句子。第一个句子中是分号连接的两个并列句。第一个分句的主体结构是A technologist thinks about objects...，其中that引导了定语从句：that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions，修饰前面的objects。第二个分句中使用了被动语态，主语they指代前面的objects。第二个句子中，that引导定语that as yet do not exist修饰前面的devices。
△注意reduce... to的用法：reduce to这里的意思是“简化为，归纳为”；另外应该注意as yet的用法：as yet的意思是“指导此时，指导目前为止”，用在否定句和疑问句当中。
⑥Robert Fulton once wrote, "The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea."
▲句子的结构是Robert Fulton wrote+直接引语。直接引语中，句子的主干部分是The mechanic should sit down...。like在这里是连词，意思是“in the same way as，如同，同样”，这里是构成比较。like a poet后面省略了和前面句子一样的谓语部分：should sit down。considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts是现在分词作状语，表示伴随动作，其中them指代前面的letters。后面的which引导定语从句in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea修饰前面的exhibition。
△理解这个句子的关键是理解like作为连词的用法。而且要明白which指代的是exhibition而不是thoughts，因为of词组an exhibition of his thoughts中的中心词是exhibition。
n. 创造性；发明的才能
